The World Will Never Ever Be the Same
by P.B. Fluff
Summary: My first songfic to Plain White T's Hey There Delilah. Harry has returned to the Burrow for Bill and Fleur’s wedding and can’t take his eyes off Ginny. HG with a hint of RHr


**The World Will Never Ever Be the Same**

Harry knew he shouldn't, but all night he hadn't been able to look away from Ginny. She was radiant. He knew he should stop, she had caught him at it a few times and soon she would get the wrong idea and he wouldn't be able to resist if she suggested… _no, _he told himself firmly. _If she suggests another go at it I'll just have to tell her we can't. _He forced himself to look away; she had caught his eye again…

…_girl, tonight you look so pretty, yes you do…_

She was walking over to him. "Look, Harry, I know you want us to be over, at least for now, but – "

"– but I don't. I didn't want us to be over and I still don't, but I – "

"I know, Harry. I _know_." Her eyes told him that she really did know. She had that hard, blazing look again. "Look, I can't force you to make the choice I want you to make. I can't make you take it back. But just because we're not together anymore doesn't mean we still can't be friends. It doesn't mean we have to ignore each other."

He thought for a moment staring, transfixed at the way the candlelight reflected in her fiery hair paired with her gold bridesmaid's dress made her look like a ray of light. _Surely, he can't be reading my thoughts now… surely he won't know if we just _act_ like friends…_

"This is just silly. I've always wanted to be your friend. I still want to be your friend."

"I'd like that."

She smiled at him. "Do you want to dance?"

Harry ran a hand through his hair. _I shouldn't…_ "Yeah… Yeah, I'd like that."

As he took her in his arms he noted mentally that dancing with Ginny was far more comfortable than dancing with Parvati. He didn't feel like a dog being put through paces at a show. He felt like he could just… be.

"You, my brother, and Hermione are leaving tomorrow, aren't you?"

Harry looked down at her, jolted with surprise. "I…"

"When Ron said you didn't want to go back this year I figured it must be because you wanted to spend the year trying to find a way to defeat Voldemort. It's not like it takes much to work out that where ever you go, Ron and Hermione are going to go too."

"Yeah. They're going back to Hogwarts this year so they wanted to be help me as much as they could before the school year started. They're getting special permission from McGonagall to be able to leave the school whenever I send word."

"Well, it was either that or pick a new head boy and girl," Ginny joked, casting a sidelong glance at them. Harry followed her gaze. His two best friends were dancing very close together. It felt so nice to be there dancing with Ginny, among celebrating people, discussing things like head boy and girl. He almost felt for a moment that he could be someone who didn't have an inevitable confrontation with Voldemort looming in front of him. He almost felt for a moment that he could just be "Harry Potter, Ginny Weasley's boyfriend" instead of "Harry Potter, the Chosen One".

"I'll miss playing quidditch with you. I'll miss you period." Ginny smiled up at him. "I've never known Hogwarts without you."

Harry had never thought of that. He never thought of the fact that he'd never known a year of the wizarding world without Hogwarts. He was going to miss her too.

"I'll miss you too," he said, bravely.

"Owl me."

"Of course."

_Don't you worry about the distance,  
I'm right there if you get lonely, give this song another listen  
Close you're eyes… I'm by your side…._

She was beautiful.

_Ohh, it's what you do to me, ohh, it's what you do to me…_

"Ginny, I – I don't know how to say this but – "

"Really, I understand. You don't have to say anything, Harry."

…_I know times are getting hard_…

He swallowed. "Ginny, I don't want you to come with me. Not because I think you couldn't handle it, but because I couldn't handle it if anything happened to you."

"Please, Harry…" she had tears welled up in her eyes now.

"No, please Ginny. I know it's selfish of me to even ask it, but please, don't follow me."

"I won't, Harry. If it'll make it easier for you, I'll stay where it's safe."

"Wait for me?"

…_But just believe me girl someday we'll have it good  
We'll have the life we knew we would  
My word is good…_

"Harry…" she trailed off.

…_I've got so much left to say…_

"There's more."

_A thousand miles seems pretty far but they've got planes and trains and cars, I'd walk to you if I had no other way  
Our friends would all make fun of us, and we'll just laugh along because we know that none of them have felt this way_…

"I'll need your help. We're looking for Voldemort's Horcruxes. We think one of them might be hidden in the school, but so many of the other ones are going to be scattered around that I'll have to look elsewhere for those."

"Horcruxes?" Ginny looked only mildly confused. "I heard of those once. They're bits of someone's soul or something?"

"Yeah, basically. They would be trinkets, small stuff. If one of them is hidden in the school it would most likely have one of the founder's marks on it. But yeah, they're basically bits of Voldemort's soul that he encased in stuff to ensure his immortality. But we've got to destroy them all if we have any hope of finishing off Voldemort."

She nodded through the tears she was refusing to let fall.

"Here," he said, pulling out the Marauder's Map out. "Use this. Ask Ron and Hermione about the horcruxes. Tell them I told you to. They'll help. Especially Hermione. And owl me as soon as you think you've found something."

_I can promise you that by the time that we get through, the world will never ever be the same, and you're to blame…_

"Harry, I know you can't let yourself say what you feel, if you had it your way, you wouldn't even feel it if it could keep me safe…"

"Please stop, Ginny." He didn't think he could take it if she continued.

_you be good and don't you miss me. Two more years and you'll be done with school and I'll be making history like I do  
You'll know it's all because of you…_

"Stop." She was whispering now, very close to his ear. "Harry, I haven't been completely honest with you. I'm in love with one of your friends."

Harry felt as though he'd just swallowed a rock.

"Take care of that messy haired boy. He might not want to love me, but I can love him."

Harry couldn't help but smile to himself as she stood on tiptoe to kiss him on the cheek and then, before walking away said, "Bring him back to me."

Harry stared after her, and silently vowed to return to her.

_Ohh, it's what you do to me, ohh, it's what you do to me_

_What you do to me…_

Review please!


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